Slave
by yutamiyu
Summary: What if...Sarah hadn't made it through the Labyrinth in time? Told though the eyes of Jareth.
1. Default Chapter Title

Slave: A Labyrinth Fanfic  
  
By yutamiyu  
  
  
  
What if...Sarah hadn't made it through the Labyrinth on time?  
  
  
  
  
"Give me the child."  
  
The girl's words were surprisingly strong and sincere, considering the nearly thirteen-hour ordeal I had put her through.  
  
But can you blame me? She was the one who asked for me to take that whining, crying brat away in the first place. I only did what I was told.  
  
The child belongs to me.  
  
I will not let him go so easily.  
  
"Sarah," I warn. "Beware. I have been generous up until now. But I can be cruel."  
  
She scoffs at my remark. "'Generous'?! What have you done that's generous?!"  
  
I sigh. She still does not understand. "Everything!" I simply reply. "You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You cowered before me, and I was frightening." I take a step towards her. "I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down. And I have done it all for you!" I sigh again. "I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me." I think for a minute before choosing my next words. "Isn't that...generous?"  
  
She recites the lines I have heard her say many times before in her world. This creature who pulls dialogue from a torn and dirtied red manuscript and acts as though I am in front of her and conversing with her. She has no idea that I have seen her doing so every time she acts out her fantasies, whether in dream or in waking.  
  
She must be mine.  
  
"'Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, for my will is as strong as yours. And   
my--'"  
  
"Stop!" I yell. "Wait. Look, Sarah." I pull one of my crystal balls from my pocket. "Look what I am offering you. Your dreams."  
  
"'And your kingdom is great...'" She is weakening.  
  
"I ask...for so little. Just let me rule you. And you can have everything you want."  
  
"'Kingdom is great...' Damn! I can never remember that line..."  
  
Ah. Time to move in. "Just fear me--" My eyes become soft. "-love me...do as I say...and I will be your slave."  
  
I have put everything on the line...for her.  
  
"'My kingdom is great...my kingdom is great...'" She is not struggling to find her words. Rather, she is struggling to find her heart. For in the midst of her acting, she has not fully realized that she has fallen in love with a character from her dreams. The character that is standing before her right now.  
  
I look at the clock floating behind her. She has less than a minute left to save her brother. Less than a minute to decide which of us she wants to keep. Less than a minute before her baby brother becomes one of my ruled subjects: a goblin.  
  
She drops to her knees, lost. "I can't...remember...the line..." she mumbles. Her head turns to the baby boy wearing the white and red striped pajamas. "I've read the book...time and time again...but that one line..." She stares up at me. "...Why? I've read this book from cover to cover...I know every line...except one. Why?" She falls apart completely.  
  
Poor girl. I would pity her, were it not her own fault that she was in this predicament. The clock behind her chimes softly-I don't think she can hear it. Her thirteen hours are now up. I pick up the clock and hold it in front of her. "Your brother is lost."  
  
Sarah quickly looks up to where her brother sits. My magic has begun, enveloping him in light and changing his features to resemble the rest of my kingdom: hairy, stout, large-nosed, and bearing an unmistakable stench.  
  
She begins crying, sobbing the child's name over and over.  
  
Why?  
  
I kneel down in front of her, and crook a finger under her chin to force her to look at me. "Why do you cry? This is what you wanted. You asked me to take him, and I did. I gave you fair warning, and a chance to get him back." The tears fall down her face wantonly. I wipe an errant one off of her cheek. "You didn't really want him back, did you? That is why you failed."  
  
"I...I didn't know..." she managed, between her sobs.  
  
"Didn't know what?"  
  
"I didn't think...that you would actually come. I thought...it was just in my head. Just pretend. Make-believe."  
  
I release her, and rise to my feet. She looks at me of her own accord. "I'm just as real as you are," I say. "I am flesh and blood. I can laugh, I can cry. I can love. Does that make us so different from each other?"  
  
She slowly shakes her head, swiping at the tears in her eyes.  
  
I pull out a crystal. "Look, Sarah. Here is what I offer you now." She stands and takes the ball from my hands. "I can send you back to your world. Your brother would no longer exist in it. The entire world would never know that he had ever existed. However, you would. You would retain all memories of your failure here. But you can have your family back, and still do all the things that you did prior to your appearance here."  
  
Several images of this scenario play inside the crystal ball. I do not hide any of the positive aspects, nor do I flaunt the negatives. Her decision must be pure, unadulterated.  
  
"Or," I say, clearing the crystal, "you can remain here, with me. Never again will you have to see Toby. You can live however you want to, and do whatever you want to do. You can become my queen. All you have to do...is love me."  
  
The scenario plays in the crystal ball. She watches, silent. Pensive.  
  
I do not do this out of pity. Nor do I do this out of compassion.  
  
I do this out of love.  
  
And she knows it.  
  
I don't want to lose her. But I don't want to force her into anything that she does not want to do.  
  
I tried forcing her before. I spiked a peach and had her eat it. She soon saw through the masquerade and broke out of my illusion.  
  
I wonder if she realizes that I have no true power over her.  
  
No power save one.  
  
The power of love.  
  
She finally looks up from the ball. "Will you send Toby back?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Send Toby back to my parents. I want to stay here. Send Toby back in my stead. I don't want my parents to lose both children, and I don't want to go back to my world. Make my parents forget me, instead. Send him back, and let me stay with you."  
  
I hold her shoulders. "This decision is forever. Do you understand this?"  
  
She is silent, and finally nods. "I do."  
  
"Then it is done." I wave my hand at the goblin-child, sending him back to his world, without any memories of what has happened.  
  
Sarah is distant.  
  
I drop my hands to my sides and heave a long sigh. What I am about to do is cruel-to myself.  
  
I offer to send her back as well. Without any memories of anything that has ever happened. Back to playing out her labyrinthian fantasies and dressing up in costumes. Fancying that she had won the love of a goblin king.  
  
She takes my hand and smiles up at me. She shakes her head. "'But what no one knew was that the goblin king had fallen in love with her...'"  
  
I have heard this story as well. This is where she asks me to take the child.  
  
She takes my hand, deviating from the story line. "...and that she had too fallen for the king."  
  
I stare into her eyes. We slowly sink to the ground, together. Embrace one another tightly.  
  
"I want to stay with you."  
  
Did she say it, or did I? I cannot tell. Perhaps it was both of us.  
  
She loves me.  
  
I am now her slave.  
  
  
~Fin~  



	2. Default Chapter Title

Slave II: A Labyrinth Fanfic  
  
By yutamiyu  
  
  
  
The events of Slave.told in Sarah's perspective.  
  
  
  
  
"Give me the child."  
  
My words are surprisingly strong. In the past thirteen hours, I have been through hell and   
high water. The only thing on my mind now is the retrieval of my baby brother.  
  
Crying, whining, sniveling brat.  
  
Jareth's eyes pierce mine and I am breathless. "Sarah," he says, in that oh-so-seductive   
tone of voice, "beware. I have been generous up until now. But I can be cruel."  
  
I scoff despite myself. "`Generous?!'" I demand. "What have you done that's   
generous?!"  
  
"Everything!" he counters. "You asked that the child be taken; I took him. You cowered   
before me, and I was frightening." He starts to close the distance between us. "I have   
reordered time. I have turned the world upside down. And I have done it all for you."   
He sighs. "I am tired of living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that.generous?"  
  
This situation has taken on the same feeling of countless others before, standing by the   
riverbank and reciting line after line to my dog, Merlin. I am instantly at ease, and head   
towards the familiar territory.  
  
"`Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the   
castle beyond the Goblin City, for my will is as strong as yours. And my--'"  
  
"Stop!" he yells, and I am shocked into obligation. "Wait. Look, Sarah." He produces a   
crystal ball that I have become all too familiar with. "Look what I am offering you.   
Your dreams."  
  
This man.this one man.grant my every dream?  
  
My only dream?  
  
"`And your kingdom is great.'" I falter. I don't really want to defeat him.  
  
.Do I?  
  
His eyes are pleading. "I ask.for so little. Just let me rule you. And you can have   
everything you want."  
  
All I want is you.  
  
"`Kingdom is great.'" My mind is stuck.  
  
"Just fear me--" His eyes suddenly soften. "-love me.do as I say.and I will be your   
slave."  
  
"`My kingdom is great.my kingdom is great.'"  
  
Do I cross the line? Do I stay or do I flee? Do I really want to go back to my own   
mundane world?  
  
I drop to my knees, bathed in torment. "I can't remember the line." I say in a semi-  
whisper. I look towards Toby. Weighing my choices. "I've read the book.time and   
time again.but that one line."  
  
I stare up at Jareth.   
  
A revelation: I know the line. Do I dare use it? I fear the look in his eyes-I see a man   
acting out of desperation.  
  
Out of love?  
  
".Why?" I am addressing his heart. "I've read the book from cover to cover.I know   
every line.except one. Why?"  
  
My questioning has long since gone far beyond mere lines in a book.  
  
I hear the clock. I refuse to acknowledge it. Let it chime for all I care. Jareth suddenly   
holds the clock in front of me. "Your brother is lost."  
  
Lost?  
  
My eyes dart towards my brother. He is instantly transformed into one of the kingdom's   
own.  
  
I have failed him.  
  
I cry. "Toby.Toby." I sob.  
  
Jareth crooks a finger under my chin and lifts my face up. I don't want him to see me   
like this-a broken down girl who wants nothing more than to fly into the arms of the   
man she loves and cry her sorrows away.  
  
"Why do you cry?" he asks me. "This is what you wanted. You asked me to take him,   
and I did. I gave you fair warning, and a chance to get him back." He wipes a tear from   
my cheek. My cheek is now burning from his touch. "You didn't really want him back,   
did you? That is why you failed."  
  
"I.I didn't know." I finally say, not knowing whether I speak of Toby or of my heart.  
  
"Didn't know what?"  
  
"I didn't think.that you would actually come. I thought.it was just in my head. Just   
pretend. Make-believe."  
  
He releases me and stands before me. I bring my head up to look at him, as though I   
were afraid that he would leave me and never again would I see him.  
  
"I'm just as real as you are," he says. "I am flesh and blood. I can laugh, I can cry. I can   
love. Does that make us so different from each other?"  
  
I shake my head and rub the tears from my eyes.  
  
He produces another crystal. "Look, Sarah. Here is what I offer you now."  
  
I take the crystal and stare into it.  
  
"I can send you back to your world," he says. "Your brother would no longer exist in it.   
The entire world would never know that he had ever existed. However, you would. You   
would retain all memories of your failure here. But you can have your family back, and   
still do all the things that you did prior to your appearance here."  
  
I watch, transfixed, as the images of my own world appear before me. They are varied-  
some are happy, others show sorrow. I always knew that Jareth would show me both   
ends of an equation.  
  
"Or," he says, clearing the images from the crystal, "you can remain here, with me.   
Never again will you have to see Toby. You can live however you want to, and do   
whatever you want to do. You can become my queen. All you have to do.is love me."  
  
I watch as the images of a life in this world play in front of me.  
  
I know what I want. I want to stay here.  
  
With Jareth.  
  
I want to be with Jareth.  
  
Now and forever.  
  
That's all I've ever really wanted.  
  
Isn't it?  
  
I look up from the ball. "Will you send Toby back?" I ask.  
  
Jareth is confused. "What?"  
  
"Send Toby back with my parents. I want to stay here. Send Toby back in my stead. I   
don't want my parents to lose both children, and I don't want to go back to my world.   
Make my parents forget me, instead. Send him back, and let me stay with you."  
  
He grasps my shoulders. I savor the warmth. "This decision is forever. Do you   
understand this?"  
  
Understand what? A lifetime of happiness with a man with whom I have fallen in love?  
  
I nod. "I do."  
  
"Then it is done." I watch as Toby is sent back to my world, unharmed. My gaze   
remains at the spot where my former baby brother once sat.  
  
I hear Jareth's sigh.  
  
"You can go back as well," he says. "Go back.without the memories of what has   
happened here. You can go back to playing out your labyrinthian fantasies and dressing   
up in your costumes. You can go back to pretending that you have won the love of a   
goblin king."  
  
More like the king has won the love of me.  
  
Does he honestly not know how much I care for him?  
  
I take his hand and smile at him. Shake my head. "`But what no one knew was that the   
goblin king had fallen in love with her.'" I take his other hand. ".And that she too   
had fallen for the king."  
  
He stares into my eyes and I stare into his. We sink to the ground together and embrace.   
We become as one-I couldn't tell where I stopped and he began.  
  
"I want to stay with you."  
  
Did he say it, or did I? I cannot tell. Perhaps it was both of us.  
  
He loves me.  
  
I am now his slave.  



End file.
